The importance of evaluation and evidence-based skills to improving service delivery

Sarah McNicol

Abstract

The overall aim of the MLA-WM funded Developing Evaluation and Evidence-based Skills and Approaches to Service Delivery project is to improve the evaluation skills of staff within the museums, libraries and archives sectors and the focus of the project will be on evaluation of service provision. The partners in this project include museums, academic libraries and their archives, public libraries and their archives and health libraries. The first stage of the project, which is reported here, was to carry out an investigation of needs in terms of staff skills, focusing on evaluation, within the sector. The findings of this investigation will be used to inform the development of an approach to training which will be delivered in early 2006. The findings suggest that museums, archives and libraries need to streamline existing data collection exercises; dramatically improver the organisation and management of evaluation activities; and make stronger
links between evaluation and service development.